The College Envy, Resentment and Anti-Education Agenda.

1. Please, please stop the bullshit!!! Who really says this, and what "establishment?"

“The establishment has created this thing that if you don’t go to college, you’re somehow not equal to someone else who did,” says Frank Antenori, a former GOP Arizona state legislator and 2016 Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention.

No one on, especially on the "liberal left" has ever said that. Another manufactured villain Republicans have created to make their draconian plan look better, and to scare their voters.

2. Please, please stop the bullshit!!! Does this sound anything like college today?

Donald Trump Jr. recently excoriated universities in Texas, for which he was paid $100,000: "Hate speech is anything that says America is a good country. That our founders were great people. That we need borders. Hate speech is anything faithful to the moral teachings of the Bible.”

"(Many universities) take $200,000 of your money; in exchange, we’ll train your children to hate our country. . . . We’ll make them unemployable by teaching them courses in zombie studies, underwater basket weaving and, my personal favorite, tree climbing.”

3. Republicans Hate College: So is it any wonder most Republican voters sneer at being educated:

In July, a Pew Research Center study found that 58 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents believe colleges and universities have a negative effect “on the way things are going in the country,” up from 37 percent two years ago. Democrats...72 percent said they have a positive impact. Other studies show overwhelming numbers of white working-class men do not believe a college degree is worth the cost.

4. Not worth the Cost? Republicans don't believe spending $30 billion a year on Pell grants is worth it since half of these students drop out.

More than 44 million Americans are paying off student loans ... average student loan debt of a 2016 college graduate was $37,000. At $1.4 trillion, U.S. student loan debt is now larger than credit card debt.

Getting back to Frank Antenori, the former GOP Arizona state legislator, he thinks taxpayers "should help pay only for degrees, such as those in engineering, medicine or law, that lead directly to jobs ... 

"...(not a) junky” (degree in) “diversity studies or culture studies. You want to create someone who’s going to be a contributor, not a moocher. Go out and generate revenue; that’s what it’s all about.”

There's a liberal take on college education; Steve Farley, a Democratic state senator who is running for governor who used to spar regularly with Antenori: 

“That is a basic ethical and moral flaw in this whole argument, that everything’s got to have financial payback so we can reduce taxes for the Koch brothers. This whole idea that government should be run more like a business is so profoundly morally flawed. Government should be run like a family. We should not be manufacturing them (students) to be products to be consumed."

Noting the growing amount of money on campuses from conservative donors ... "We choose to give our money away in corporate tax cuts and corporate sales tax loopholes. It’s my crusade to get rid of those loopholes and fund our public education system at every level. The whole liberal bastion idea is just absurd.” 

So while Republicans are creating villains to make their bad policies more acceptable, they're missing out on what's really happening, as businesses step forward to help non-college bound students succeed:

Minnesota StarTribune: Companies invest in high schools across state to boost vocational, engineering, other high-demand work: A looming labor shortage, along with a growing urgency to address Minnesota's unyielding racial achievement gap, is prompting sweeping changes in the way businesses participate in hands-on learning.

The focus is no longer just on students who might be better suited to community college and the trades. Across the state, corporations are donating thousands of dollars as well as their employees’ time to teach students how to do such things as draw architect’s plans, make replacement parts with 3-D printers, write computer code, create marketing campaigns and learn basic nursing skills.

Companies such as Polaris, Medtronic and Ergotron are helping to develop curricula at Wayzata High School and are working side-by-side with juniors and seniors through the school’s Compass program. Students take an online skills assessment and can select one of four career fields — business management and entrepreneurship; arts and global communications; health sciences; and design, engineering and manufacturing technologies. More than just subject matter, the courses promote teamwork, interpersonal communication and other problem-solving skills needed to be successful in the business world.

Republicans haven't progressed any further than the mid 20th century when untrained high school graduates or dropouts could make a decent living and raise a family. Not true anymore. Even some Republicans are pushing early training in high schools and tech colleges, which means, "if you don’t go to college, you’re somehow not equal to someone else who did” is absolute bullshit and they know it. Can't have it both ways.

Note: The flawed Republican plan for public school is getting rid of most everything else for job training. That's not a long-term strategy for students who will end up having 2, 3, or 4 different professions in their lifetime.

Republicans Outraged: College Commencement Speakers mostly Liberal!!!

Anonymous conservative tweeters and commentators on my blog often jab me about my failed liberal talk radio career, blaming the constant whining and boring progressive topics. Their point is, liberal talk failed because no one was interested in it.

I was reminded of that point today when I came across this headline of phony outrage:

“Liberal speakers dominate college commencements, conservative group says”

Well the same rule applies guys: maybe no one is interested in the tired old whiny and boring conservative topics. You can almost hear Fox News viewers and low information voters mumbling something about freedom, liberty, the constitution and American Exceptionalism now.  

Liberal speakers will outnumber conservatives by at least 6-to-1 at the nation's top 100 schools as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. Ron Robinson, president of Young America's Foundation, said in a statement to FoxNews.com said, “The data shows schools and the general public are going in different directions. This trend will be detrimental to the development of our country’s future leaders. Students are not getting the full picture about government policy or learning about the Constitution, American exceptionalism, or free market economics.”

No wonder republicans are defunding education. Who would have guessed that content free, divisive, homophobic, bigoted, racist, nanny-state conservatives, guided by nothing more than their ideologically driven policies, just doesn't fit in to a schools learning environment. I'm shocked.

Walker fast tracks unaffordable UW colleges, blocking upward mobility of middle class in state.

Again, missing in action, the immediate Democratic response to another outrageous cut to the UW, this time to the tune of $300 million. Pathetic.

The reason we fund public education is to spread the cost to each and every citizen, so families with children don’t end up paying the full amount themselves, and everyone in society benefits. Well, not anymore. And at a time when college is a basic necessity, pricing the lower and middle class out of education is mind boggling. This idea only sets up another huge problem for future generations to deal with. 

Scott Walker is looking to “renege” on public funding so he can pass a few more of those "on his way to the White House" tax cuts. Remember the word “renege?” The only reason Walker wrongly accused the federal government of reneging on Medicaid payments is because he actually planned to do that himself, for real. It’s called projection. 

And Walker's purely political election year tuition tax freezes?  That savings will disappear fast. It'll be a nice way for families to spend their GOP tax cuts. 

And with Republicans in charge of congress, the interest on student loans will go through the roof too, a “free market” giveaway to the banks. It's a perfect storm. This isn't the first time Walker tried to trash education, along with the constitution:   

jsonline-Jason Stein: A portion of a law giving Gov. Scott Walker veto powers over rules written by the state schools superintendent was struck down ... Circuit Judge Amy Smith ruled that the law violated the state constitution by giving Walker that power over the state Department of Public Instruction. 

It's no surprise that the loss of the UW's large cash reserves, the focus the legislatures phony outrage during the last budget, is now coming back to haunt us, big time. jsonline:

UWM Chancellor Mark Mone on Friday told faculty of the College of Letters & Science that the … large cuts … would be more painful than previous trims because "we don't have the (cash) reserves we had then, and we don't have the flexibility because of tuition freezes going forward at least two years."

It now appears the enemy of public education, Sen. Steve Nass, is sounding sane in this stunning press release:

Even Rep. Robin Vos seemed a little surprised:

“As a former regent, I have concerns about a cut of this magnitude without granting flexibilities to the UW System. It appears that a significant amount of flexibility would be necessary in order to manage such a large decrease off the base budget. This is a decision that’s not to be taken lightly.”

Here's what our state constitution lays out for public colleges:

State university; support. SECTION 6. Provision shall be made by law for the establishment of a state university at or near the seat of state government, and for connecting with the same, from time to time, such colleges in different parts of the state as the interests of education may require. The proceeds of all lands that have been or may hereafter be granted by the United States to the state for the support of a university shall be and remain a perpetual fund to be called “the university fund,” the interest of which shall be appropriated to the support of the state university, and no sectarian instruction shall be allowed in such university.

Educated Workforce? Forget it, GOP austerity forces UW Superior to sheds programs and four positions.

I’d like to make a prediction; Republicans will make another cut to the UW system over some drummed up “problem,” just like they've done in every other budget.

And this will only make things worse. With the continuation of the tuition freeze, without any promise of additional state aid and possible cuts, the UW-Superior is the first domino positioned to fall.

UW-Superior it’s suspending five academic programs: Educational Specialist Degree; Applied Discrete Mathematics concentration; French minor; French education minor; German education minor … will save the university $260,000 by eliminating four positions.

The university is receiving roughly $2 million from UW System to offset cuts in state funding, tuition freezes and low enrollment. Williams said the university needs to save $2 million by June 2016. 26 out of their 94 undergraduate major and minor programs will remain under review, including programs for music, theatre and computer science … they don’t know what further cuts may be made, or when that might happen.

Former Sen. Dale Schultz described what was really going on this way on WPR's morning show:

As Republicans Cut Funding for Public Universities, Tuition went through the roof.

One of the biggest lies pushed by Republicans? The government student loan program is making tuition's skyrocket. That's simply not true. As college funding gets cut by the enemies of public education, the Republicans, tuition rises to make up for the losses. 

For fun, here's a recent video clip of Dumb Ron Johnson spinning that old talking point like it made any sense:

WSJ: He also criticized federal spending on higher education, saying it has caused tuition to increase well above the rate of inflation.

“We have poured money into higher education. … All of our good intentions trying to make college more accessible, we’ve made it less accessible because we’ve made it so much more unaffordable,” he said.

Taking the government out of the student loan program would mean higher interest rates and wonderfully large bank profits. Ya think Johnson knew that?

In a Urban Milwaukee article by Bruce Murphy, Millennials are moving into cities partly because they can't afford houses or cars due to high student loan debt. 

Murphy details the reason for the high cost of tuition; Republican defunding of our public universities:

Young people raised in the suburbs seem to find cities far more interesting places to live. But another factor that may make cities more attractive for young people is the rising level of student debt. For decades, state governments have been decreasing support of public universities, forcing them to jack up tuition. Since 1978, as a story in Bloomberg reported, the cost of college tuition has risen 12-fold — by 1,120 percent!

The result has been a soaring increase in student loans and resulting student debt. The average 2014 graduate holding student loans owes $33,000, the Wall Street Journal has reported, up from around $31,000 in 2013 and way up from $10,000 for the 1993 graduating class.

Adding difficulty is that many graduates aren’t getting the kind of high paying jobs needed to handle this crushing debt. An article on PolicyMic.com points out that between 2005 and 2012, the average student loan debt jumped 35 percent, adjusting for inflation, while the median salary dropped 2.2 percent.

College debt another bad Republican idea.

I really thought I was making headway with my conservative friend in Milwaukee the other day on health care, when he ditched what we were talking about and said "government shouldn't be involved in health care."

I'm guessing he would say the same thing about student loan debt...and almost everything dragging down our economy. They don't like the obvious answers, the easier more obvious solutions that save money and free people up to do other important things. 

One Wisconsin Now has been pushing student loan reform for awhile, and now has Mary Burke, the Democratic candidate for governor on board. But even their solution is a band aid compared to what other countries have successfully done, as shown in the cartoon to the below.  

New Hope for Solutions to $1.2 Trillion Student Loan Debt Crisis in Wisconsin? Gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke has included some of the common sense solutions from the Higher Ed, Lower Debt Act in her newly released "Invest for Success" jobs plan. Specifically Burke calls for creating a mechanism to allow Wisconsin borrowers to refinance their student loans to take advantage of lower interest rates, just like you can with a home mortgage or other consumer loan. And Burke would allow borrowers to deduct student loan debt payments on their state taxes, just like you can with home mortgage loan interest.

Original research by One Wisconsin Institute found that borrowers with an undergraduate degree in Wisconsin were making average payments of nearly $350 per month for almost 19 years. The impact of this debt is dramatic and negative for the entire state economy. And freeing a generation of well-trained, well-educated Wisconsinites from the chains of crushing debt will spur the entrepreneurism and small business creation needed to break out of our economic doldrums.

Breaking Up the Higher Education Cartel? Another Tea Party Republican Idea you won't believe.

Can you imagine someone saying to you that they graduated from the MacIver Institute? As ridiculous as that may sound, Utah Sen. Mike Lee thinks he's onto something. How about a degree from the Heritage Foundation? Club for Growth? Wisconsin Right to Life? Dow Chemical and Boeing accredited courses? 

I came across Mike Lee's plan to break up the "higher education cartel" watching the following outrageous proposal from another crazy but calm Fox News pundit. A formula for absolute chaos:



Here's Lee's proposal to so overuse the act of accreditation that it will make the act meaningless. In his own words:

The Federalist: Under the federal Higher Education Act, students are eligible for Title IV student loans and grants only if they attend formally accredited institutions. That makes some sense, for purposes of quality control. Except that under the law, only degree-issuing academic institutions are allowed to be accredited. And only the U.S. Department of Education gets to say who can be an accreditor.

That is, the federal government today operates a kind of higher-education cartel, with federally approved accreditors using their gatekeeper power to keep out unwanted competition.

Yes, that's considered bad. Get ready for the ride of your life:

It seems to me the answer isn't more funding or lower rates for existing Title IV programs. The answer is to make more kinds of students and more kinds of education eligible for them. State-based accreditation would augment, not replace, the current regime. (College presidents can rest assured that if they like their regional accreditor, they can keep it.)

But the state-based alternatives would not be limited to accrediting formal, degree-issuing “colleges.” They could additionally accredit specialized programs, apprenticeships, professional certification classes, competency tests, and even individual courses.

Businesses, labor unions, trade associations, non-profit groups, and any other applicant that met the state’s requirements could be empowered to accredit. Apple or Google could accredit computer courses. Dow could accredit a chemistry program, and Boeing could craft its own aerospace engineering “major.” 

Meanwhile, talented teachers could side-step time-consuming and esoteric “publish or perish” research, and spend their careers in the classroom instead. Groups of professors could form new business models, like medical practices, and offer high-quality higher education for a fraction of the cost of four years at a traditional university. 

Faith communities and civic organizations could begin to offer accredited courses, for next to nothing, as part of their missions. 

My bill begins that process ... alternative providers would have to price-compete with their traditional and alternative competitors. disciplined pricing would mean students might need loans of hundreds of dollars, instead of tens of thousands. As the alternative market establishes student/customer-friendly standards for pricing, quality, and transparency, traditional colleges will face tough questions about rigor, transfer credits, and student success. 

Hundreds of dollars for our current college educators? Sen. Mike Lee is batshit crazy.

UW justified in Huge Surplus; Walker Republicans Created "Uncertainty" over Future Funding.

Why is this one BIG detail being left out?

In the last biennial budget go round, Scott Walker and his gang of legislative pirates cut $300 million from the UW system.

That’s a lot right? And you might have noticed how a few attempts by Republicans to break up the UW, to penalize it for being too liberal, for shutting down a Walker protest poster art show by students, continued massive funding cuts, etc.

THE CUTS-Kevin Reilly wrote in October of 2011: “In the midst of a crushing economic downturn, our elected state leaders crafted a two-year budget that reflected tough choices, including $250 million in reduced state funding for the University of Wisconsin System.”

By December 2011, the Journal Sentinel wrote: “….including an additional $46.1 million cut in funds for the University of Wisconsin System.”

So after putting away $648 million in reserve funds, with plans for spending $441 million of that, that leaves just $206 million. That seems dangerously risky, if history is any indicator.

According to another story, the cuts were no big deal:

Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, said he believes the UW System will be able to weather the cuts. "I think they will be able to do it in a way that doesn't dramatically affect the university or dramatically affect the state. . . . Everyone - Democrat or Republican - would agree the budget must be balanced," Vos said.

The cuts amounted to just about half of the surplus Republicans are whining about now. Here's coverage from WKOW's Capitol City Sunday:



So just to be clear, the UW wasn't justified in hedging their bets against any future cuts by the anti-UW Republican legislators? I think not.

UW Bashing Republicans Level Outrageous Insults! Did you ever hear of Projection Guys?

Where's the media responsibility to remain fair and impartial? Maybe even do a little research? Have you seen the headlines touting the fake or partisan Republican anger over the size of the UW raining day fund?

In a stunning turn about from their own passage and mismanagement of WEDC, Republicans, who've never run a business or wrote a bill without the help of a lobbyist, are outraged over UW surpluses that resulted rising tuition rates. Hey guys, Republicans in congress want to do away with the low government backed student rates and replace it with "market" driven ones that are about twice as much. Talk about a quick way to strap students with burdensome debt. Here's Channel3000's coverage showing these anti-learning ideologues in action:



Has the media forgotten; Republicans not only have tried to break up the UW and defund it, but they've also backed an effort to import more students from out-of-state due to much higher tuition rates. This phony outrage about disadvantaging instate students with higher tuition is nonsense.

It's all about taking the UW down:

jsonline: Lawmakers may revoke additional authority they promised the University of Wisconsin System over pay and personnel two years ago … "There is so much money lying around I feel very uncomfortable moving forward today giving you more authority" over the personnel system, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (said) … lawmakers are considering freezing tuition and blocking a $181 million increase in state aid to the system recommended by Walker. Lawmakers berated Reilly for nearly two hours … "I feel like I have been played over the last few months," said. Rep. John Nygren.

Unfortunately, Democrats offered little in defense:

Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson said they thought lawmakers needed to bring the same level of scrutiny to other arms of the state, such as the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

The whiniest asshole in the legislature, Rep. Robin Vos decided to trot out all the empty criticisms of the past, including his utter hatred for Obama. And budget surpluses…outrageous:

"…this is one prime example where I was totally mistaken about believing UW . . . could control its own fiscal affairs," he said … citing its development of the WiscNet broadband system, a recent report that it had made $33 million in benefit overpayments to employees, a payroll system that had to be scrapped and the decision to cancel classes when President Barack Obama visited campus during his re-election bid last year. "Continually time after time after time you have embarrassed Wisconsin," Vos said.

Anybody feel embarrassed about canceled classes at the UW for security purposes when Obama visited? Or how about the failed payroll system from a private vender, heck, that never happens in the real world? Or the UW’s “unfair” competition with private internet providers that offers broadband at really low rates saving taxpayers money? Embarrassed, really?

The UW is an honest victim of “uncertainty,” when it comes to the massive funding cuts by Republicans:

Reilly said the system had built up reserves because officials know how volatile their funding can be … the percentage in those accounts was in line with or below what similar university systems have across the country. 

Here's a more adult approach to the "controversy," contained in this student press release from the UW Stout:

The Stout Student Association President-elect Juliana Lucchesi addressed the freeze in relation to student savings and instructor pay: “A tuition freeze is not a good option for students in the long run and has not shown to save students money over a period of four years. Tuition freezes can also result in loss of faculty and academic staff who are already paid 18 to 20 percent lower than the national average.”

Online College Courses actually Widen the Achievement Gap. More Virtual School Snake Oil.

After the bad news came in about the failure of K12, one of the biggest “virtual” online schools, we’re now learning the following online college courses are doing more harm than good.

This should make every parent question the effectiveness of all online course work, especially if there’s no teacher present. These online courses never made sense to me as stand alone schools. They seem tailor made for supplementing what's already being taught in the classroom.

I’m posting this because coincidentally the UW-Madison just announced the roll out of these online courses, for free. No harm done you say? It seems to me the university could spend their time and effort on something that works.

jsonline: Low-cost online courses may allow a more diverse group of students to take college classes, but a new study from Columbia University suggests they also could widen achievement gaps, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported this week.

Researchers at Columbia examined 500,000 courses taken by more than 40,000 community- and technical-college students in Washington State. They found that students in demographic groups whose members typically struggle in traditional classrooms struggled even more in online courses, the Chronicle story says.

The study found that all students who take more online courses, no matter the demographic, are less likely to attain a degree. However, some groups—including black students, male students, younger students, and students with lower grade-point averages—are particularly susceptible to this pattern.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced this week it will begin offering a handful of massive online open courses (MOOCS) this fall.

The big question is whether MOOCS can successfully educate students without offering direct interaction with faculty.

Private sector, for-profit Colleges love Taxpayer money.

Here's another look at how for-profit, private colleges are draining taxpayer dollars to become filthy rich, and a likely harbinger of where K-12 is headed with vouchers.

EPI: In 2009, 86 percent of revenues for the 15 publicly-traded for-profit colleges came from the Department of Education federal student aid and U.S. military educational benefit programs.

These taxpayer dollars do not primarily go toward the education of students. As the figure shows, for-profit education companies take away more in profits than they spend on education. A large share of the revenue is also used to recruit new students, most of whom get deep into debt. The committee described typical recruiting practices as “aggressive,” and “deceptive.” And, this too is paid for by taxpayers.

Taxpayer Money Pours into For-Profit Colleges!!! Love that old Free Market?

I'm catching on. Taking our hard earned taxpayer dollars so we can fill the pockets of for profit private sector businesses and CEO salaries, is okay if it supports free market principals. Especially in the education.

Republicans are big on privatizing public schools because they say competition in the free market will raise the quality of education, and get government out of the way. Government is known for stifling innovation. If you believe that you're a sucker or horrifically unqualified to influence public policy.

In what could be a precursor to privatizing K-12, see how private sector colleges are soaking taxpayers because...well, they can. If the following is okay with you, where taxpayer money is used to supercharge the free market, then I think I'm starting to understand conservatism. Paying public employees a decent wage is bad, paying a private sector CEO or corporation is good.  

NY Times: Wrapping up a two-year investigation of for-profit colleges, Senator Tom Harkin will issue a final report on Monday — a voluminous, hard-hitting indictment of almost every aspect of the industry. “In this report, you will find overwhelming documentation of exorbitant tuition, aggressive recruiting practices, abysmal student outcomes, taxpayer dollars spent on marketing and pocketed as profit, and regulatory evasion and manipulation. These practices are not the exception they are systemic throughout the industry, with very few individual exceptions.” According to the report, which was posted online in advance:

-Taxpayers spent $32 billion in the most recent year on companies that operate for-profit colleges, but the majority of students they enroll leave without a degree, half of those within four months.

-Among the 30 companies, an average of 22.4 percent of revenue went to marketing and recruiting, 19.4 percent to profits and 17.7 percent to instruction.

-Their chief executive officers were paid an average of $7.3 million, although Robert S. Silberman, the chief executive of Strayer Education, made $41 million in 2009, including stock options.

-The bulk of the for-profit colleges’ revenue, more than 80 percent in most cases, comes from taxpayers.

-On average associate-degree and certificate programs at for-profit colleges cost about four times as much as those at community colleges and public universities. An internal memo from the finance director of a Kaplan nursing program in Sacramento, for example, recommended an 8 percent increase in fees, saying that “with the new pricing, we can lose two students and still make the same profit.” Similarly, the chief financial officer at National American University wrote in an e-mail to executives that the university had not met its profit expectation for the summer quarter, so “as a result” it would need a midyear tuition increase. Republicans called the study “a hostile partisan effort.” 

For Republican voters, that’s good enough for them. But is a little more regulation and oversight needed to protect taxpayer money?

Democrats generally arguing that greater regulation is needed to prevent huge publicly traded colleges from plundering the Treasury for student financial aid while leaving students with crippling debt and credentials that are worthless in the job market. Many Republicans see such colleges as a healthy free-market alternative to overcrowded community colleges, offering useful vocational training and education to working adults who will not attend more traditional institutions. 

Again let’s be clear, spending, and basically plundering taxpayer coffers, is okay in the name of freedom and capitalism. It is not okay for taxpayers to support themselves as public employees.

Walker's Online Bachelors Degree needs a lot of work.

Adults may soon be able to study online and get their bachelors degree, and hopefully, a good job.

I don't disagree with the program put forth by the governor and university officials, what I do disagree with is the incredibly sketching planning of such a major announcement. Check it out:

WKOW: Imagine a bachelor's degree program that's online, lets you work at your own pace and gives you college credits for your work experience. That's the goal of a new initiative being launched by the University of Wisconsin System and Governor Scott Walker. Walker said the program will target adults, many of whom can't find the time to obtain a traditional degree. It would allow those students to take classes online and at their own pace, with no specific start or end date. 

The tricky part will be figuring out a way to test the knowledge a person has already gained the workplace.

UW System officials must still design those competency tests and figure out how to administer them, the cost of the program and how to pay for it is a big unknown at this point.

UW System officials also don't know when the program will start or how many degrees will be offered. 

But could it save money?

"The overhead costs are much less than other places, it could actually, potentially offset more of the other costs at more of the traditional undergraduate settings," said Gov. Walker.

There is some question about how a degree in a field like health care could be completed online. Using that example, UW officials said they would have to work out agreements with private clinics or hospitals so students could still do the field work necessary to complete the degree.

Freeloading anti-tax Conservatives attack colleges because spending is based on politics, not need!

After reading through this Time’s article about possible draconian cuts to California’s state colleges, it became clear to me how irrational the right wings austerity measures were “for the good of the country,” and "for our kids future." Check out the following frightening reality:

 “I’d be lying if I said … there hasn’t been a degradation of the learning environment,” said Timothy White, the chancellor of the University of California, Riverside … Last year, plans to open a medical school on the campus were shelved after state budget cuts. Courses that used to require four writing assignments now demand half that because professors have fewer assistants to help them with grading papers.

…Some say that the state budget crisis makes it necessary (to make cuts), and may provide an opportunity for needed changes.

Needed changes? Are we talking about adding the latest innovative learning programs? Not at all; those “needed changes” refer to cut, cut, cut. And it's all driven by pure dumbed down ideology.  

Jon Coupal, the president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which strongly opposes the proposed tax increase, said the colleges should do more to show they are cutting spending, like reducing pay for top administrators or closing programs that do not directly benefit the state.

“We’ve had the luxury in prior years of heavily subsidizing colleges,” Mr. Coupal said. “But like anything in California, the delivery of higher education is not performance based. They’ve created new campuses and programs based on politics and not need.”

And that’s the point isn’t it; spending on education is “based on politics.” This is an attack on those snooty “liberal elitists,!” You know; the educated. "Liberal” is simply thrown in for effect.

Just as contradictory; while universities are state economic engines, Republicans are trashing them. But cutting them cuts revenue?  

Nathan Brostrom, executive vice president of business operations for the University of California, said the system was now in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. In the last year, the state has cut $750 million from the system’s budget. This year, for the first time, the system receives more money from tuition than from state aid … Over all, the budget is the same as it was in 2007, when there were 75,000 fewer students enrolled. In recent years, many campuses have made a more concerted effort to recruit out-of-state students, who pay more in tuition. 

That’s what Wisconsin Republicans want to do as well; bring in more out-of-state students, edging out our own kids.  

The financial picture will grow even more dire if the tax increase backed by Governor Brown does not pass in November. While poor students are still able to obtain financial aid, tuition increases mean that the state’s colleges may no longer be the best choice for the middle class, said Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. Charles B. Reed, the chancellor of the Cal State system who recently announced his retirement said, “This is supposed to be our work force for the state. We go down this road and we’re looking at an ugly Russian winter for the economy.” 

Which we can then blame on the next Democratic presidents policies.

After all that's happened, UW School for Workers gives in to Republican Rep. Steve Nass' Threats, cancels Art in Protest exhibit!!

Major movements in our past have been historically captured through the eyes of courageous activist artists. But in Wisconsin, that history is being criticized and quashed by the authoritarian power of our ruling party.  

I've read public educations biggest enemy and dumbest SOB in the assembly, Rep. Steve Nass' comments over and over here, and I still can't see one reason why the UW's School for Workers would cancel their art exhibit. Not one. Hello, we're recalling the governor over labor rights...?

WRN: Republican Rep. Steve Nass, who has an often contentious relationship with the UW has gotten the UW’s School for Workers to cancel an “Art in Protest” exhibit that had been scheduled for next month. “The problem with it is that it would be funded with taxpayer dollars and that’s through the Extension,” says Representative Steve Nass. Nass charges the exhibit would have provided a one-sided view of last year’s protests at the Capitol, with UW Extension taking the side of protesters. “I did indicate to Extension that if they go forward with the event, any problems that arise from that, or any misbehavior by the protesters – which I certainly would expect, it would probably be very despicable – Extension would take ownership of that, and I will be watching.” “If the unions want to fund it, I have no problem with that.”

Is there anyway to recall this guy?

The social and economic benefits of a college education no longer shared.

Society once saw the benefits of an educated public as a vital part of their economic survival. That's no  longer the popular view, since society has now shifted the cost of an education to individual families. Our conservative legislators over time have cut college funding dramatically. Hey, times are tough. .  

UW President Kevn Riley explains that not too long ago, the state covered about 2/3 of the cost of a college education. Now, thanks to anti-education Republicans, that number has flipped. Parents now covering that 2/3's cost, which in turn, takes money out of the consumer sector.  Uh oh, no jobs!

The UW used to get 13 to 14 cents of every tax dollar, now they're down to about 6 cents. It wasn't too long ago when the state GOP wanted it to go private. From Upfront with Mike Gousha:

Conservatives start campaign to cut off college education for Americans.

The dirty little secret; Republicans don't want an educated pubic voting in future elections. After successfully putting in place (a temporary situation I hope) voter suppression efforts, conservatives have long held that dumb people shouldn't vote. So what better way to accomplish that, than to create uncertainty over the value of a college education, while making it harder to get in for the poor and middle class.

Rep. Paul Ryan blames federal student grant programs for fueling an unhealthy interest in going to college and rising costs due to bottomless taxpayer pockets.

What Ryan doesn't tell you is the federal money is in response to state reductions in funding, caused by austere Republican legislatures and their hatred for public education.  If states funded their public colleges, tuition would not have skyrocketed, and federal grants wouldn't be an issue. Republicans created this problem. A problem that now costs everyone more money.

This bizarre piece from ReasonTV is stunning and almost laughable in its attempt to show phony outrage over getting a college education. Their solution; make people pay out of pocket so only the elite can go to college:

Legacy and privilege ignored in the affirmative action policies of college admissions.

Having just hosted the racist Virginia think tank against affirmative action of any kind, the Center for Equal Opportunity, I thought this perspective on "legacy admissions" was just as important. Keli Goff:

It's the provocative question that polite people don't like to ask in the presence of their friends of different races. Who really has it tougher? Black person A or white person B or Asian person C, Latino person D or multi-racial person E? ... we also acknowledge that there are endless qualifiers to that question. When the word "unless" enters the equation, it makes it easier for people to argue that the equation itself should not exist. Welcome to the 2011 debate over affirmative action.

Let me state this for the record: I don't believe that I should receive an opportunity for a job or admission into an institution of higher learning over someone more qualified simply due to the color of my skin, and wouldn't want to. By the same token I wouldn't want to lose a job or admission to an institution of higher learning due to factors equally beyond my control, such as my last name or my class status, yet that kind of missed opportunity happens to people like me all of the time. (To clarify, by "people like me" I mean those of us who were not born wealthy, well connected and fabulous.)

State Republicans who blamed protests on meddling outsider’s, welcome racist outsider’s pushing costly referendum on UW affirmative action policy.

Rep. Steve Nass is again in the middle of another racial controversy because he sees himself as the great defender of white guys. But let’s get to the hypocrisy first.

This is starting to get ridiculous. First Republicans complained teachers and unions brought in “outsiders” to agitate and protest at the Capitol, all the while organizing a counter protest with out-of-state tea party fanatics Americans for Prosperity. Then, state Republicans went out to get paid “outsiders” to gather recall petitions for Democratic Senators.

Now, Republicans are rolling out the welcome mat to another outside group, this time a racist Virginia think tank opposed to affirmative action.   

WSJ: The Virginia-based Center for Equal Opportunity alleged last month in two reports that UW-Madison gives preference to black and Hispanic students over white and Asian students in undergraduate and law school admissions. Roger Clegg, president and general counsel of the center, flew in…

Flew in? “OUTSIDER!!” Overseeing the legislative hearing was none other than racist bigot Rep. Steve Nass. Not only does Nass want to repeal a law banning racist team mascots, but now he’s playing hand maid to an out-of-state group of cleverly disguised grand dragons telling Wisconsinites who to admit at our public university. Nass knows how to soft peddle racism:

Rep. Steve Nass, chairman of the committee, said "there is a concern" about the university's admissions policy. But he … thinks elected officials might be "uncomfortable" voting on the sensitive issue.

Like all state Republicans, Nass will not tolerate criticism, no matter how fact based or relevant:

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, accused the study's authors of being unprepared and "very biased," asking Clegg why the report didn't take into consideration academic performance. Nass shot back that Pocan was engaging in "name calling and allegations."

I missed the name calling part. Guess we can’t question the motives and starkly open racism from an “outside” group. Nass also suggested pressure from these poor picked on white guys could result in changing the admissions policy. What, and have an “outside” group tell Wisconsin what to do?

But the ultimate ballsy hypocrisy?

Clegg suggested that the people of Wisconsin could vote on a referendum to end the consideration of race in admissions, which has happened in other states. "I'm prepared to put this to a vote to the people of Wisconsin," Clegg said.

“I’m prepared to put it to a vote” is a pretty presumptuous expectation from an outside group from Virginia, who should mind their own business. But you won’t hear that argument from hypocrite Rep. Steve Nass. 

My New Hero; Larry Johnson? Read his Letter in Praise of George Will's Analysis of Wisconsin's Recall Elections..

From the Columbian, WA: 

Thanks to George Will’s insightful examination of what ails America, I have finally come to see the true light.

Will’s Aug. 28 column on the lessons learned after the Wisconsin recall elections indicts labor unions, trial lawyers, and ivory towers as the greatest obstacles in America’s exceptional march toward greatness.

Though retired, I am now considering renouncing my pension and medical benefits, and throwing myself on the tender mercies of compassionate conservatism. Likewise, should I find myself crossways with monolithic corporatism, I’m certain that my plea for their ear and appeal to their sense of justice will prevail.

And as for higher education, well, apparently, as denigrated by Will, that just makes you dumber, less able to distinguish how you as an enterprising American individual can exert your personal power to effect changes on a very uneven playing field.

And as Will so ably reeled off extemporaneously on “Meet the Press” that same Sunday, every one of our current maladies, politically, socially, economically, is directly attributable to Barack Obama.

And I thank Will for his thoughtful revelations.

Larry Johnson